An Icelandic radical youth organization, the Fylking-Baráttusamtök Sósíalista (FBS-The League,
Socialist Struggle
Group), voted March 12 to apply for the status of a sympathizing group of the Fourth International. At the same time, it changed its name to the Fylking Byltingarsinnadhra Kommúnista
(FBK-
Revolutionary Communist League).
In a lead editorial in the March issue of its paper Neisti (Spark), the Fylking explained its decision as follows:
The first serious study of Trotskyism and how to apply it in Icelandic conditions began in internal discussions in 1974. Since that time, there has been an ongoing discussion in the organization, in which the various currents in the communist movement have participated There have been thousands of pages of internal discussion bulletins, as well as many cell meetings, conferences, and congresses devoted to these questions. At one or another level, all members of the organization have participated in this discussion and in the struggle that culminated after the Twenty-Ninth and Thirtieth Congresses.
Never before in Iceland has the membership of a left group had complete freedom to organize in tendencies and factions so as to be better able to develop their views and present them to the other members of the organization. Not only have organized tendencies participated in the congresses of the organization, but minorities were guaranteed the right to representation in the leading bodies of the organization in accordance with the number of votes they gained at congresses. Thus, the Fylking broke from the Stalinist traditions of the Icelandic Communist movement.
This also promoted democratic discussion. So, there was a lively debate at the Thirtieth Congress over a number of questions. However, it is notable that every member of the organization voted for the proposal to join the Fourth International.
The Fylking began as the youth group of the Sameiningarflokkur althydhuSósíalista Flokkurinn,* an article in Neisti explained. While the group was affiliated to the Communist party, it was called the Aeskulydhfylking (AeF-Youth League).
At that time, political training consisted mostly of woodland outings and trips to lavish youth conferences in Eastern Europe, where the delegates from all countries gathered in groups, shouting, "Stalin! Stalin!" and the names of other well-known Stalinists. Nonetheless, there was always some kind of "Marxist" education in the AeF, and around 1960, political discussion began to develop.
With the decline of the SF, discontent began to develop with its practices, as well as those of the Althydhubandalag (People's Alliance, the CP's electoral formation). At the 1966 congress of the AeF, the left wing won a majority, and the group began to function as an independent formation.
However, its independence was only formal. It was some time before the AeF and later the FBS broke with the ideology of the SF and the Althydhubandalag; in fact, it served as their left arm. The organization had been hardened in Stalinism.
Since the organization had no formal ties to any traditional party, it became a battleground for all sorts of currents, from anarchism to Maoism. At the same time, it was buoyed up by the broad youth radicalization.
What breathed life into the FBS in those years was the rise of struggles throughout the world, and especially the radicalization among the youth, and the development of all sorts of currents to the left of the traditional parties of the working class. This movement developed in particular around support for the revolution in Cuba, the struggle in Vietnam, struggles around freedom of thought. This sort of struggle was the specialty of the FBS at the time. You have only to think of the December 23, 1968, action and the Reykjavik march at the end of that year. These were good actions in themselves, representing a struggle for the freedom to protest.
Despite the influence of all sorts of currents, especially Maoism from 1972-73, centrism was always the dominant force in the organization. It left its mark on the group's other activities. It could be seen in the vague positions the organization took on some very important questions, such as those of the international workers movement. It was also shown in a pragmatic style of work, that is, chasing around in whatever direction the wind seemed to be blow. ing.
Typical of the meanderings of the FBS was the position it took in the municipal and county elections in 1974, and the Althing [parliament] elections. In the local elections, the FBS called for a boycott. This was a clear ultraleft deviation, especially since it went hand in hand with denying that the Althydhubandalag was a workers party.... In the Althing elections, the FBS ran its own slate, which in itself was not wrong.
However, in the campaign it came to light that the FBS had nothing to offer, no platform to present to the class. Finally, strange as it may seem, the organization degenerated into parliamentarism and right opportunism! At the same time, there were many illusions about the extent of the FBS's potential support. Everyone knows now how small it was.
What happened after that should be familiar to all. Trotskyist tendencies developed in the Fylking and gradually won the majority. At the 1974 summer conference, the Maoists left the organization, where their ideas seemed to be winning no support. Once the Trotskyists won the majority, this greatly influenced the work of the organization. Its activity became more purposeful. At the same time, an attempt was always made to draw the lessons of experience.
In the April 2 issue of the Swedish Trotskyist weekly Internationalen, a member of the Fylking, Björn Arnorsson, described the debate with the Maoists as follows:
In 1974, two documents were published representing, respectively, both tendencies. The bulk of comrades avoided taking a position on both documents in their entirety. However, it soon became clear that a majority were against the Maoists' document, without being for the Trotskyists'. They cast around frantically for some common political designation that could hold the organization together. The Central Committee proposed a very limited minimum program and freedom for tendencies, to be reflected in Neisti as well.
But the Maoists posed an ultimatum. Either the Fylking accepted their document, or they would leave the organization. When the congress rejected this, they walked out, all six of them.
Debate continued for some time over the question of joining the Fourth International, since a minority wanted to investigate some other organizations. But the question was resolved by the time of the thirtieth congress.
The Fylking is the best known and largest young left organization in Iceland. Its monthly paper Neisti has a circulation of 2,000, which amounts to approximately 1 percent of the population of the country.